NEWS AND NOTES:
-Purdue held a lead against Iowa for pretty much the entire game. The final score was 77-70, but you never got the sense that Purdue wasn’t in control
-Furman was down to Charleston by double digits for what seemed like the entire second half, and Charleston was playing a fantastic game. Somehow Furman made it close, then tied it, then forced overtime, and then won in overtime. The Paladins improve to 6-2 and with the win against Louisville their resume looks really solid.
-Virginia struggled against what looks to be a lowly Pitt team. With 10 seconds to go, Pitt was up by 4. Then there was a UVA made 3, a 5 second violation by Pitt, and another wild shot by UVA that went down with less than a second to go, and the Hoos escaped with the 57-56 win.
HIGLIGHTED GAMES:
-ALABAMA VS GONZAGA (Battle in Seattle) (***Spotlight Game***). It’s yet another match-up between two top ten teams that involves Gonzaga. Alabama has won some big games this year, and tonight has a chance to win one that suggests that not only should they be a protected seed, but that they are on par with #1 seeds. As for Gonzaga, it would be yet another win against a highly ranked team to add to their already super impressive resume.
-SAINT JOSEPH’S AT VILLANOVA (Big Five). It’s the Holy War!!! this may be more of a Holy Massacre than a war. Nova is a Final Four caliber team and Joe’s is…well…not.
-MEMPHIS AT OLE MISS. Memphis has a talented team, but they’ve still struggled in their last few games. Ole Miss is off to a respectable 5-2 start and is unbeaten at home, so this will be a bit of a road challenge for Memphis, who is still looking for their first true road win.
-CLEMSON AT MIAMI FL (ACC). Both teams have a lot of work to do if they want to end up on the right side of the cut line.
-OAKLAND AT IUPUI (Horizon League). If Oakland can run away from the HL, they have a great chance of landing inside the bubble.
-NEBRASKA AT INDIANA (Big Ten). Indiana is coming off a close loss at Syracuse, but they’ve shown signs of having potential this year. They need to take care of business in this one.
-MARQUETTE AT WISCONSIN. This is a big rivalry between two teams that are off to really good starts, and will almost assuredly be in the top half of the bracket come March. It’s Marquette’s first true road game, so we should learn something about them.
-SAN DIEGO STATE AT MICHIGAN. Neither team is off to the kind of start they probably wanted to be off to, but both are still good and both have potential. This would be a big win that both teams could really use.
-TENNESSEE AT COLORADO. This is the first true road game for Tennessee, and it’s not an easy one. Colorado may not be as good as Tennessee on equal terms, but they are very tough to beat on their home floor, so it’s a game Tennessee should get quite a bit of credit for if they can get it done.
-RHODE ISLAND AT PROVIDENCE. This game is a war! It is a BITTER rivalry that probably doesn’t make the splash on the national radar that a lot of other rivalries do, but is every bit as intense. This year it means quite a bit on paper as well as off paper. Rhody is 6-2 and is looking for a signature win, and Providence is 7-1 and unbeaten at home.
-LOUISVILLE AT NC STATE (ACC). Both teams are off to a good start and Louisville picked up some nice wins in their MTE, but this is just their second true road game of the year, and winning at NC State isn’t easy.
-WAKE FOREST AT VIRGINIA TECH (ACC). Both teams have good records, but both could use some notable wins.
-BYU AT MISSOURI STATE. This is a tough road test for a BYU team that’s looking to rebound from their upset loss at Utah Valley early in the week. Missouri State is a team we were really high on coming into the year, but that hasn’t really shown us much yet. Still, with a showcase game at home against a ranked opponent they may be way up for this one.
-ARMY AT AIR FORCE. AFA hasn’t played the toughest of schedules, but they are 6-1 coming into this one.
-LOYOLA CHICAGO AT DEPAUL. Loyola Chicago missed some opportunities to get some big wins in their MTE, but they didn’t come away completely empty handed and they got the chance to pick up a notable win today. DePaul is currently 6-0 with all their wins coming at home, but they haven’t had a really big statement win yet either. In short, this is a crosstown match-up between two teams who both have something to prove.
-CAMPBELL AT VCU. This is a buy game, but with Campbell being 6-1 with the only loss coming at Duke in a game where they really competed, we are gonna highlight it!
-SAINT MARY’S AT COLORADO STATE. This is a HUGELY important game between two teams that will likely make the NCAA Tournament. Saint Mary’s is coming off a huge win at Utah State (that Aggies fans probably feel was a bit controversial), so they have shown they can win on the road. Colorado State is unbeaten on the season and while they’ve been tested a little bit, this may be their toughest game of the year to date. So…it’s a big one.
-PENN AT TEMPLE (Big Five). If it weren’t a Big Five game, we wouldn’t be mentioning it.
-SYRACUSE AT FLORIDA STATE (ACC). Florida State is licking their wounds a little bit after getting beaten rather badly by Syracuse, and Syracuse has to be feeling good after just beating Indiana. The Orange still has a ton of work to do, though. This is their first road game of the year, and it’s not an easy one against an FSU team that is looking to rebound.
-BUFFALO AT SAINT BONAVENTURE (Big Four). The Bonnies have fallen out of the rankings after losing to Northern Iowa, and they actually struggled a little bit with Coppin State the other night. This one won’t be easy either as it is against a Big Four rival, and Buffalo is a team that’s really good and trying to pick up a big statement/resume building win of their own.
-TOLEDO AT MICHIGAN STATE. It’s a buy game, but Toledo is off to a 6-1 start and can probably at least compete with the Spartans. At the very least Michigan State does not want to overlook them.
-USC AT WASHINGTON STATE. I am VERY excited for this one!! USC is off to a 7-0 start and has looked really good this year. Wazzu is a team that we thought could be a dark horse, and with a 7-1 start with some decent wins they’ve given us reason to be optimistic. This is a big test for them, and a showcase game at home, so it should be a fun one!
-VANDERBILT AT SMU. As much as we’ve ragged on Vandy, they are 5-1 and have a road win. They haven’t won a game like this, but if they can pull it off, they’ll have our attention.
-UAB AT SAINT LOUIS. A big game between a UAB team that we feel is really good and has a shot at landing inside the bubble, and a Saint Louis team that we felt would be impacted by injuries, but is still off to a really good start at 7-1.
-OLD DOMINION AT GEORGE MASON. I don’t know what to say about this one other than that George Mason needs to pull themselves out of the tailspin they’ve been in.
-MIDDLE TENNESSEE AT MURRAY STATE. It’s two under the radar teams, but both only have one loss.
-PORTLAND STATE AT WEBER STATE (Big Sky). Weber is undefeated, and as long as they stay that way we will keep highlighting them. Their next four are against Washington State, Utah State, BYU, and Fresno State so if they can win a few of those they will have made a really big statement.
-IOWA STATE AT CREIGHTON. Iowa State has been one of the biggest surprises of the year. They are unbeaten and in the rankings with some big wins. This is their first true road game, though, and it won’t be easy. Creighton is also quite good, and is particularly strong at home.
-UNLV AT SAN FRANCISCO. We really like this San Francisco team and they’ve got a winnable game tonight to improve to 9-0.
BUY GAMES
-Nyack @ Seton Hall
-Yale @ Auburn
-Northern Illinois @ Dayton
-Gardner Webb @ East Carolina
-William & Mary @ Davidson
-Saint Francis U @ Ohio U
-Little Rock @ Arkansas
-Grambling @ UConn
-McNeese @ Wyoming
-Arkanas Pine Bluff @ Baylor
-Cal State Northridge @ Fresno State
-Mississippi Valley State @ Grand Canyon